This invention relates to ergonomic sleeves for surgical scalpels, and particularly scalpels used in ophthalmic and microsurgery.
Conventional surgical scalpels used in microsurgery typically have a plastic handle portion and a blade attached to the handle. These conventional scalpels often have several drawbacks when used in very precise procedures such as ophthalmic surgery. First, studies indicate that the use of conventional scalpels can result in repetitive motion injuries to the hands and wrists of microsurgeons due to the repetitive movements involved in microsurgery. Additionally, conventional scalpel handles provide inadequate tactile control for certain microsurgical procedures. Further, the smooth surfaces of conventional scalpel handles requires surgeons to expend energy squeezing the handle with his or her fingers to maintain adequate control of the scalpel while making incremental surgical movements.
Therefore, a need exists for a surgical scalpel handle which provides increased tactile control while reducing repetitive motion injuries and cumulative trauma disorder and while reducing the amount of pressure required to be exerted by the surgeon to maintain control of the scalpel.